Pressing system



Feb. 20, 1940. F T R' 2,190,868

PRESSING SYSTEM Filed Jan. 8, 1957 INVENTOR.

James 0. F

/ f/ ATTORNEYS.

Patented Feb. 20, 1940 *1 UNITED ST PATENT OFFICE j PRESSING .srsrnM f I James D. :Foster, Kansas City, Mo., assignor to a William .J. Krebs and Edwin T; Chester Application January 1937, SefialNotliiLfiM 1 claim. (o1; ca-1) l This invention relates to pressing systems commonly employed in laundries, cleaning establish- 1 merits and the like,which employ a smoothing element in the natureof, an iron, that':isequipped with a spray nozzle arranged ,tdproject a fine liquid jet ahead of the smoothing element 'd.uri1'1'., the actual pressing operation. Such an iron is dated July. 11, 1939.

disclosed in m U. s. Letters PatentNo. 2,165,541;

It. is knownjin this art that pressing ironsem dploy liquid and air under pressure for the purpose of creating a spray that may be selectively directed upon the fabric being pressed by the operator ahead of the iron and in its path of travel. Pressing irons of this typehave been utidesirable to sprinkle or otherwise apply liquid starches and sizings to certain types of cloth. A 25 neutralizing agent is also used and such agent is commonly termed soured Water! Thepresent 1 structure of some shirt collars and .cufis, for ex-= ample, employ a foundation cloth which must be caused to adhere to the outer fabric during the i0 pressing operation and directions for finishing such garments require that certain acids be sprayed upon the outer cloth so that the foundation cloth and outer cloth will adhere to each other and thereby create-astiif and self-sustain- ;5 ing garment portion.

All of theseaforesaid practices that now must 3 be followed require that some sortofliquid be directed upon the goods or fabric just prior to l the. time the smoothingelement passes over the 0. surface that has been sprayed. Heretofore spray ironshave merely been connected to the conventional source of supply and when the pressureof such source was reducedan appreciable amount, the relation between air. volume and water was ,5 an unknown quantity to the operator,

It is one of the important aims of this invent tion to provide a pressing system, having as a.

part thereof, a liquid storage tank, wherein is contained liquid of a suitable characterfto fulfill 0 r the purposes at hand, and wherein is maintained a pressure head sufiicient. to constantly force the liquid out of the tank and to the pressingelement. A further object of the invention is to provide a pressing system with a liquid storage tank, and l 5 means interconnectinga source ofairunder pres.

, Further bjectsf of the'invention include the f drawing, wherein:

v 22is provided on tank 6.

flexible tubes 30 and 32 respectively.

sure with both the said tank and the pressing element, whereby toinsure that pressure suiiicient to atomize theliquid is availablewhen the force is great enough tofmaintain a supplyof liquid at the pressing element. Q N 3 I 5 i A still further object of this invention is the provision in a pressing system of the'aforemen tionedfcharacterpof means for filtering the air priorto its passage to the liquid storage tank and to the pressing element. I l l specific embodiments of the broadconcepts, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying Figure 1 is a top plan View of that portion of 15 the pressing systemmade in accordance with the present invention. r r

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the portion shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary, vertical, central section through the tank and reservoir, taken on line III-1110f Fig. 1, and, r

Fig. 4 is a horizontal, cross section, taken along line IV-IV of Fig. 3. i l 9 Liquid storage tank .6 may be of any suitable form and size; It should be provided with a bracket 8, by means of which it might beimounted r .upon a wall, and a supply pipe l0 should enter the upper portion of tank 6. This supply pipe Ill extends to any suitable source of water or liquid that is to be used in the tank, and a valve i2 permits closing this pipe l0 when it is desired to merely pour the liquid being used into-tank 6 through filler neck It that is covered by a cap 16. A relatively small reservoir I8, carried at the side of tank 6, serves as a filter for the air inthe system and in the event any liquid remains in reservoir 18, the same may be drained through pet cook 20 at the bottom. A similar drain cock A laterally extending arm or fixture 24 is secured to tank 6 many suitable fashion and for purpose of insuring compactness, may carry pilot light 26 and fixture socket 28. This socket 28 may beused tosupply electrical current tothe pressing iron, which also is supplied with air and liquid under pressure through the medium of Referringnow to the path of travel of the air. A pipe 34, extending from a compressor or other, desirable source, passes into reservoir l8 and extends downwardly to a point relatively close to the bottom thereof. Another pipe 36 passes outwardly from reservoir l8 and joins tube 3|], which in turn is connected to the smoothing element not here shown. "Pipe 36 terminates within reservoir this air under pressure is passedinto tank 6 to I8 at a point above the bottom of pipe 34 and is provided with a branch 38 that enters tank 6 through the top thereof.

This branch pipe 38 terminates just inside the top of tank 6 and obviously above the surface 40 of liquid 42 that'is within this tank. As air under pressure passes through pipe 34, any entrained particles in the stream willbe removed by the action of gravity in reservoir, IS. A; portion'of create a pressure head upon the liquid 12 and the remaining portion of the air will pass to the;

smoothing element through pipe 36 an'dtube30. A conduit 44 joins flexible tube 32 and'extend's downwardly into tank 6 tea-point adjacentjthe bottom thereof and below the surface of liquid 42. When the valves at the, pressing element are opened; the force of the air under pressure will not only serve as an atomizing agent, butlwillj;

insure that liquid 42 is directedthrough conduit 4d. Valves 4% and $8 may be employed tocontrol' I the passage of air and liquidrespectively through tubes iii-and 3 2 respectively, and a liquid level, gauge 50 will indicate to the operator the amount .of liquidinl tank 6.

a pressing system em- It is conceivable that bodying this invention might be-made to have structural peculiarities andfeaturesother than those illustrated and described, and therefore it is desired to be limited only by the spirit ofthe invention and scope of the appended; claim.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent' v In a pressing system wherein is included a smoothing element employing liquid and air under pressure to create a spray for moistening fabrics as the same are pressed, supply means adapted to introduce cleaned air to the smoothing element and maintain a supply of liquid under a pressure head for. introduction to the smoothing element, comprisingau. closed storage tankfor the liquid; a conduit for conveying the liquid to the smoothingl element having one end thereof within the vstorage tank "near the bottom thereof; an air cleaning reservoir in juxtaposition to the storage tank; a pipe connecting the reservoir with a sourceof air under, pressure; another pipe in l communication with the reservoir and the smooth-- ing element; and a branch pipe joining the upper portion} of the tank and said second mentioned pipe, whereby air, under pressure fromthe source thereof is 'passed' through thereservoir to remove foreign matterltherefrom prior to its entering the storag'etankand the pipe supplying air to the smoothing element; the air pressure in the storage tank serving to forcethe liquid therefrom through theconduitgfsaidreservoir being carried bythe storage tank and provided with a pet cock at the lowermost part thereof; j a n JAMES D. FOSTER. 

